Sophomore Brandon Simister (St. George, Utah/Desert Hills HS) led all scorers with a career-high 23 points to lead Dixie State to a 71-58 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in the opening game of the Montana State Billings Thanksgiving Tournament Friday afternoon. The win halted DSU's three-game losing skid as the Storm improved to 2-3 on the season, while the Nanooks saw its four-game winning streak snapped as UAF fell to 4-1.

After surrendering an opening 3-pointer to start the game, the Storm took control of the first half with eight-straight point thanks to a pair of buckets each from senior Mark Ogden Jr. (Spring Valley, Calif./Steele Canyon HS) and sophomore Trevor Hill (Sandy, Utah/Alta HS). The Nanooks came back with four-straight of their own, but DSU answered with a 12-2 spurt to extend its lead to double-digits at 20-8 after a Mason Sawyer (West Jordan, Utah/West Jordan HS) lay-in. Dixie State pushed the advantage to as many as 14 points on a couple of occasions before settling for a 41-32 halftime edge.

The Nanooks came out hot to begin the second half as Alaska outscored the Storm 16-6 to jump ahead at 48-47 six-plus minutes into the frame. Trailing 52-50 with 8:38 to go the Storm's defense went to work, limiting the high-powered Nanook offense to just six points the rest of the way as DSU forced five turnovers and held Alaska to just 3-of-11 from the field.

Meanwhile the DSU offense capitalized by scoring seven quick points on a Robbie Nielson (Gresham, Ore./Barlow HS) lay-up, a Hill jumper and a big 3-pointer from Simister to go back on top at 57-52 with 6:59 to go. Dixie State never trailed the rest of the way as the Storm got a pair of monster dunks from Ogden Jr. and sophomore Josh Fuller (Rexburg, Idaho/Madison HS), and hit 8-of-8 from the line down the stretch, to put the game away.

"We played extremely hard," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "That's a great Alaska Fairbanks team and they're well coached. Our game plan was good and we followed it."

Simister hit six of his nine field goal attempts with a pair of 3-pointers and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity stripe, while Hill and Fuller each poured in 13 points, and Ogden Jr. posted his first double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Dixie State shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field and 79.3 percent (19-of-24) from the foul line. The Storm also held a decisive edge on the boards as DSU outrebounded Alaska 40-26, while the DSU defensive held the Nanooks 37 points below their season average and limited UAF to 33.3 percent shooting (22-of-66) for the game.

"We did a great job defensively, even on stuff we don't normally do," Judkins noted. "That helped us to cause them some problems. It was a whole-team effort."

Dixie State will wrap up its 2015-16 non-conference slate and MSUB tournament play Saturday with a date vs. the host Yellowjackets at 7:30 p.m. (MT).